Mirroring the fate of the Patwin Indians and Mexican settlers
who preceded them, Monticello’s residents would find themselves
displaced by forces greater than themselves. The U.S. Government
had been eyeing the valley for years as a site for a dam on Putah
Creek to prevent flooding downstream and to provide a reservoir
of water for agricultural, urban, industrial, military, and recreational
uses. Residents of Monticello tried desperately to reverse the
“Solano Project,” but to no avail9.

In
Death of a Valley16,
Dorothea Lange and Pirkle Jones documented the destruction of
Monticello; and three decades later, Berryessa Valley: The Last
Year12 was compiled
to accompany an exhibit at the Vacaville Museum. Both photo-text
compilations provide moving visual accounts of the final year
at Monticello. After valiant attempts to thwart the plans of the
government dam-builders, Monticello residents at last had to accept
the fate of their town: they abandoned their homes, hiring African-American
laborers from San Francisco to move the town cemetery to higher
ground at Spanish Flats. “The big oaks were cut down. Cattle
had rested in their shade for generations. On old maps and deeds
they had served as landmarks”16.
Anything taller than five feet and wider than two inches was removed.
Houses and fences were moved or burnt. Ranch and farm equipment
was auctioned, and the fertile, historic valley was leveled to
dust, burnt to ashes, and filled with water.
By 1957, construction of Monticello Dam at Devil’s Gate,
the narrow point of the Putah Creek Canyon, was completed. By
1963 1.6 million acre-feet of water had flooded the valley, creating
the second largest human-made water body in California (after
Shasta Reservoir), with 165 miles of shoreline (Lake Berryessa
at http://www.recreation.gov/detail.cfm?ID=17).
Thus, Quail Ridge emerged as a peninsula on the southern shore
of this new 26 x 3 mile reservoir. Water now passes in regulated
flows through the dam into what is left of Putah Creek.

The reservoir and dam generate electricity via the three hydroelectric
units of the Monticello Hydroelectric Power Plant, built from
1981-1983 and financed by a local bond. The plant is owned and
operated by the Solano Irrigation District, and the electricity
is transmitted to Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s power
grid.

Today
the reservoir ensures the supply of water for Travis Air Force
Base and the major towns of Solano County, and it is a favorite
venue for water sports enthusiasts. Seven resorts are run by concessionaires
under contract with the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) and cater
to anglers, campers, water skiers, and jet boaters. The Markley
Cove and Pleasure Cove resorts sit at the east and west inlets
on either side of the Quail Ridge peninsula, respectively. Nearly
1,500 trailers dot the shoreline of the reservoir on sites rented
on a monthly basis from concessionaires. Shoreline properties
– those within 40 vertical feet of the maximum fill waterline
– have been allocated on 50-year leases, which expire in
2008/2009. In 2003, the BOR drafted a Visitor Services Plan to
evaluate uses and needs for this land; concessionaires, residents,
recreational visitors, and land trust organizations such as Quail
Ridge Wilderness Conservancy all are closely following the progress
of the BOR’s plan.

Residential
and commercial development has been limited in the area, although
there has been a certain amount of land speculation. Most notably,
some of the parcels now comprising part of Quail Ridge Natural
Reserve were sold in the 1970s to unfortunate Europeans under
the guise of the “Swiss Alps of California” (L. Timm,
pers. comm.). Bit by bit Quail Ridge Wilderness Conservancy, the
California Department of Fish and Game, and recently the University
of California, have been acquiring parcels on the peninsula, thereby
extending and fortifying the boundaries of Quail Ridge Reserve.

The UC Davis library holds a number of documents
and photographs of Monticello and the building of the dam; many
of these are available online (http://lib.ucdavis.edu,
search ‘Monticello California’).